We offer meditation supplies, books, media and audio teachings to support, encourage and inspire you on your spiritual path.
Retreat Schedule
| Date | Teaching | |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, 11/01/2010 | Touching Enlightenment Part 1 | |
| Mon, 11/08/2010 | Touching Enlightenment Part 2 |
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| Mon, 11/15/2010 | Touching Enlightenment Part 3 |
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| Mon, 11/22/2010 | Touching Enlightenment Part 4 |
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Supplementary Materials
Wisdom collection articles by Reginald A. Ray:
"The Vajrayana Journey is an experience of love, power, and freedom" (Winter 2010)
"Touching Enlightenment" (Spring 2006)
Sponsor Logos
Hello Reggie-
Hopefully you are still reviewing these sessions for comments and questions.
I am very pleased that you are offering this "retreat". For me it comes at a time of some flux in my learning process. A 67 y/o guy, I have been meditating seriously for the past 10 years and informally studying the Dharma for four of the first six years. Four years ago I decided that I wanted a more structured Dharma education and having read "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying", and liking it immensely, I decided to enter into the teachings offered by Rigpa. I was looking in part for a practice that enabled my highly developed visual imagination. A friend concurred that a Tibetan approach to the Dharma would offer that. I like the teachings very much and have found some of the visualization practices interesting, but not particularly helpful in my settling my mind. And I am fairly certain you will agree that Rinpoche's directions for meditation are somewhat different from this somatic orientation that you are encouraging. This is precursor to my experience sitting and following your instructions.
For the first time, as far back as I can recall, I have been able to sit at my morning sitting of 30-45 minutes fully absorbed in the experience. Sogyal Rinpoche's directions are good and meaningful to me, yet I never was as successful quieting my mind, or even feeling my body or the presence of the moment as I have been over the several sittings during which I have practiced using your approach. Now I am aware of walking differently. This awareness seems to have risen on about the third or maybe fourth day after the initial instruction and subsequent full sitting.
Thank you for this opportunity to see myself. Mark
Hi Reggie;
I just started your retreat and was struck by what you said about processing not being useful because its just more mind stuff or something to that effect. I have been practising for many years in the Theravada tradition and it's the only practice that ever helped me to be more open to people (I was very shy and fearful of interacting with people which of course only created suffering.) Many years of western therapy did not make a dent in that. I would process and analize why i had that fear and was always waiting ffor the fear to go away by mere knowledge of the childhood conditioning--that mental insight was not enough---I simply had to face my fear experentially in order to over come some of it. Theravada has some body work, i worked with the First Foundation of Mindfulness which focuses on the body which makes one more aware of feelings in the body. Ive been attracted lately to tibetan traditions and recently did Pema Chodron's online retreat on the book Smile at Fear which addresses my main issue. I had read that book before but was put off by some of the imagry plus I was wary because of Chogyam Trungpa's reputation but this time I had a more open mind.and understood more of what he was getting at.
Thank you so much for this simple guided meditation on body,For me it is very interesting that you refer body as unconscious part & mind as a conscious part an this meditation as bridge between them(as far as I understand).I did this practice & feel a tickling sensation in my lower abdomen & perineum which is pleasant for me ,also I've felt it has a space inside me.I've also done this during the day and its bring me some calmness.[by paying attention to my breath and guided it to my lower belly],I thought that in this way I am stay in present moment for just a little time.I would like to ask you if this practice in this way also works or should be done as a separate session.
Thank you so much
Teo
Teo,
This is good. You have made some important discoveries. You can explore the practices as you are with much benefit. Being in the body is activating the right brain and entering into the present moment, for sure.
Thank you for these talks. This is my first exposure to meditation with the body. You encourage us to explore the space of the lower belly, and I'm wondering how to view or address sensations. From the first of these meditations, I have had a vibration that starts in the lower belly, then gradually spreads through my entire torso and remains for a while after the meditation. It's not pleasant or unpleasant, it's just there. I've been just sitting with it, watching it change. Do you have suggestions of how to work with or view these body sensations during meditation?
Thank you
Linda
I think it is just a matter of being with the sensations, opening yourself to just what they are, going with the movement or process if that occurs, and seeing what they are saying to you. Let your conscious self be the humble student learning from what is going on, what your body has to say.
Thank you so much for this powerful teaching. I have been working sporadically with the audio tapes from your Tricycle series in 2007, and I guess some of the confusion in my mind started clearing up in the process. Some tiny seeds were planted.
Listening to/hearing you today seemed to gather up bits and pieces of insight and clarity from the last three years and accelerate my practice one hundredfold. What happened to us over the last three years?
Bowing and basking in the mystery...
Jim
Thanks, Jim. This means a lot to me. We are all in this thing together, meaning the spiritual path as a way to become fully ourselves, truly love others, and open ever so much more fully to the world and the cosmos, and maybe begin to reverse the devastation our species is wreaking everywhere; I appreciate your openness and the depth of your experience.
Hi Reggie
My practice is based in a Theravadan lineage and I found your discussion of 'view' to be interesting if somewhat different from the Buddha's training as I understand it. The practice (which I tried out) was interesting and good and I felt it shared some comon aspects of practice with my own training.
The subject of self and even a cosmic self/person/awareness and questions such as 'what am I' , 'what is myself' are questions that the Buddha said should be put aside (here I mean the Buddha of the discourses in the Pali canon). They are not pertinent to the training - he said that they are a thicket views, a writhing of views and obstruct the path to awakening). Part of the problem with any view of self, whether it is limited or boundless, is that it is fabricated. Any conception of self is fabricated, inconstant, stressful (dukkha), and cant rightly be regarded as a self. You did actually touch on the process of fabrication in your talk. Fabrication, in dependent origination come right ignorance (avijja) and is also one of the five aggregates (khandas) that are activities of clinging - clinging to views of self-identity. Ideas of Buddha nature, essential self, endless awareness are all fabricated - they are dependently co-arisen - a cause for dukkha.
Interestingly the Buddha does have you develop such boundless awareness in the so called formless jhanas: boundless awareness of space, boundless counciousness, and also in the brahmaviharas - unlimited good-will, unlimited compassion etc. These refined states are also fabricated but they serve a purpose to reach the goal, but are not the goal which is unconidtioned, unfabricated. If I understood you rightly I think you were pointing to this same principle when you talked about the Bodhisatta developing refined conciousness - which I think you called a refined sense of self? The Buddha sometimes calls these states perception attainments - as the concentration they are based on a singleness of perception. Buddha also talks about contemplatives who mistake these states for the ultimate release.
In the Theravadan tradtion which is found in the Pali canon the body is fundamental to path of practice. The practice of Right Concentration (when all eight path factors are brought to thier culmination) is very much centered in the experience of the body. The similie for the first jhana, is:
"Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman's apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal...". The higher jhanas are also described in terms of how the awareness is experienced in the body.
I found the practice you lead to be quite similar in some ways to how Buddhas says one should train oneself: In the Anapanasati sutta the meditator trains themself to experience the whole body breathing in, whole bosy breathing out, and then calm the body processes breathing in, calm breathing out. In the practice I do, to develop this whole body awarness, there are focal points which can be helpful to develop that. One is where you suggested, between the naval ans perineum, others are at the, naval, solar plexus, centre of the chest, base of the throat, centre of the head. All these centres can be bases to in contact with the breath energy. Once a centre can be established with a sene of ease, openess etc. then one can then allow the breath energy/awarenes to spread throughtout the body. When this can be maintained (which is the developement of skilfulness with the bodily fabrication) then one may say that the first jhana has been attained. But it probably isnt that helpful to say I ahve attained this or that jhana, state of concentration. What is important is that one is developing skilfulnes with the bodily fabrication. This constitutues development of the first Satipatthana - mindfuleness of the body. As one gain skilfulness with bodily fabrication, then one also is developing skilfulness with verbal and mental fabrications. One begins to comprehend kamma, the function of intention, origination and cessation. The process by which dukkha comes to be and how it also ceases too. The eight fold path is a special kind of fabrication - its the kamma that leads to the end of kamma. As ones skilfulnes increases adn is brought to its culmination that leads to the end of fabrications - the unconditioned, the highest happiness.
"This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard:
"There are these three properties.
Which three? The property of form, the property of formlessness, & the property of cessation.
These are the three properties."
Comprehending the property of form, not taking a stance in the formless, those released in cessation are people who've left death behind.
Having touched with his body the deathless property free from acquisitions,
having realized the relinquishing of acquisitions, fermentation-free,
the Rightly Self-awakened One teaches the state with no sorrow, no dust."
Itivuttaka 51
Thank you for sharing your understanding
Alex
Thank you for these most learned comments. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into studying the Theravadin tradition. I think we might be talking on different levels, though. My understanding is that what the Buddha said we should put aside is vain speculation about these kinds of questions; in other words, thinking about them and trying to figure them out is a sidetrack to awakening. The tantric approach and specifically that of both Mahamudra is quite different: that the questions are meant not to activate the thinking mind but rather to provoke it into collapse. This is an approach to language similar to the way Zen uses questions as koans, "what is the sound of one hand clapping" and so on. It is an interesting line of meditative training. It might be fun for you to look at Thrangu Rinpoche's writings which are very good and also Khenp Tsultrim Gyamtso.
I am also interested and glad to hear about the parallels and similarities in what you have learned. I myself find a huge amount of meditative inspiration in the Theravadin tradition and have learned a very great deal from Acharn Lee Dhammadharo's work, things that surpass what I have found in the Tibetan tantra.
My practice is also based in a Theravadan lineage, as well as over 20 years of Transcendental Meditation. Thank you for sharing so much, your wondering opened more avenues of thought for my own study and path. I am also compelled to gently and with love remind myself that sometimes dukkha or suffering which often arises on the cushion and is not always consciously realized until later, if at all, can create a need "to know" or to think we know the right path. The Buddha offered over and over to all who would listen some of the most important words of all of his teachings (in my opinion) which were for each of those curious to his teachings to not take his word as truth, but to sit themselves and find out what is there for them. In this place, I thank you and Reggy Ray once again for offering another path of insight and learning. Namaste.
Hello Dr. Ray,
My name is Al Cozzi, you may recall that I studied with you for a year at Naropa through the online environment. I am very happy to hear you teach again.
I have a couple of questions concerning this practice.
First, when I direct my breath as instructed to the lower belly I get a very subtle sense of my own sexuality. When this happens I seem to lose connection with the view of expansive space because I’m interpreting this as an ego centered sense. Is this an obstacle?
Also I have recently completed Shambhala level 5 training and have been working with the formless meditation instructions from it. Do you think the practice you’re presenting here is incompatible with that? And is it problematic or counterproductive to alternate on a day to day basis between formless meditation and one based on form.
Thank you very much for making these teaching accessible,
Al
Encountering one's sexual feelings is working with form; it is no problem as long as you remain open to how that moves forward. In terms of this practice, this is essentially a formless practice. You begin with the form, which is the lower belly, but then, I think as we will see, you progress through that into a practice that is very profoundly formless. The lower belly becomes the gate to vast emptiness. The interesting thing about discovering formlessness through the body is that, in contrast to other avenues which can be quite ungrounded, this is both completely grounded and also completely open. This is the tantric way of discovering the unity of shamatha and vipashyana. But alternating is actually quite good as it should open up each practice more.
Great to see & hear you, Reggie! This is amazing! Thank you! ♥
Thank you Reggie for this month-long retreat online. I joined Tricycle today and was thrilled to see your retreat had just begun. I have been studying Buddhism for several years, though came into meditation just over 25 years ago through Transcendental Meditation and have struggled somewhat in the last couple of years as I have tried to find a natural way to incorporate the mantra work (which now runs on its own as one long continuous tone during meditation) along with breath meditation. I found my mantra to work nicely with the exercise you have assigned. At first, my mind struggled to define this place in my lower stomach and your guidance in the video to not try and define or understand this place was perfect, as I allowed my mind to stop its questioning and to begin to really relax and feel what was happening within my physical body. Thank you again and I look forward to more practice with this technique and to see what is next. I will also look for your book!
Thanks for these comments! Very moving to sense the journey that is unfolding here for you.
Thanks very much Reggie. I'm looking forward to this. I have been practicing mediation on the breath for about 2 years now, as a beginning student. I tend to have a very active and anxious mind. I think this body work is probably a good area for me to focus on. I noticed that while I was able to concentrate on the area you described, I was sensing my in breath throughout my belly, through the back, etc. Should my focus be razor sharp on that spot or is it okay to attend to the other sensations of the breath? Also, I've always meditated with my eyes closed. Is that okay? Thanks again for your teachings.
Be gentle. Trust your experience. See how focused or how diffuse your attention wants to be at any given time. No need to override the experience and guidance of your body with what you think you should be doing. Once we can turn down the volume on the "shoulds" in our practice, we begin to find that the body leads us forward into the darkness of our own larger self and our own future in the most beautiful way.
Thank you Reggie.
I had never heard that the body is the unconscious. Will have to ponder that for a while. Thank you for your generosity. Me6s
Yes, the body is the unconscious, not only in the smaller but also in the largest sense. The body is ultimately our largest person, the buddha nature, of which we are more or less completely unconscious. Dreams, which Freud called the "royal road to the unconscious," are the body's language, the body trying to communicate with us. The unconscious trying to get through to our limited ego mind. We can work with dreams to access the unconscious, but we can also work right with the body itself which is, in some ways, more direct. The body is what Arnie Mindell calls the "dream body", the true self which is calling to our limited ego consciousness to open, transform, and come closer to the fullness of who we really are. I know this may sound crazy within a conventional Western context where most people think exactly the opposite. But this work we are doing shows us over time that it is true. My book Touching Enlightenment deals with this topic.
I'd like to hear more about how and why you claim the body is unconscious. It is certainly non-linguistic, and "speaks" to us through sensation and direct experience. Do you feel it's nature is unconscious? In the west we seem to have inherited body unconsciousness. But I sense that the body, not separate from the mind but expressing a single entity, is itself subject to consciousness and illumination, as is everything. Maybe I'm just getting caught up in the language here. You did say "THE unconscious". In any case, could you clarify even further?
There is a very long tradition in Buddhism and Buddhist yoga, especially tantric yoga. Do take a look at Touching Enlightenment; the discussion there might be helpful. i am trying to think of who else you might find interesting. Certainly Arnie Mindell's work is quite fascinating. He talks about the Dream Body which is nothing other than our body. He says that each of us has, beneath our self-proclaimed ego, "a true, absolute personality" and this is expressed in the body as the unconscious. The body dreams us in order to lead us to wholeness.
This discussion of the body and the unconscious is fascinating. What if we think of the body as a matrix, brimming with unconscious potential, and spontaneously configurating into insight and awareness?
When practicing Tai Chi or QiGong, suddenly the body “knows” the form on a deeper level. Where did that knowing come from? Perhaps from the body as unconscious potential....Where is the “knowing” when the form seems beyond us, too challenging, overwhelming? Perhaps in the unconscious as body???
Bowing,
Jim
Is the lower belly meditation similar to awareness of the bhandas in yoga, mula bhanda and uddiyana bhanda., which radiate from the perineum and the lower part of the belly towards the heart..? feels similar when sitting , although more released and 3 dimensional.. its almost as if the sushumna is porous...fascinating and fantastic! Thanks Reggie for this deep teaching.
Yes, there is much correlation with the bhandas in yoga, with the inner physiology and process of tantric yoga (on which much of my own work is based) and also with the inner body and its pathways and centers in Qi Gung and taoist yoga. It is interesting that the inner body is not quite as definitive as our physical body. Depending on the practices you are doing, different dimensions and even different realities open up. Generally, I just tell folks, "follow the instructions and see what you find out about the experience and the possibilities of your own body." Generally, I think we find much interesting correlation and illumination of other somatic disciplines we may be familiar with but, beyond that, we often find out a lot of sometimes astounding things, within our so-called physical body, that we never even dreamed were possible. It's an amazing journey and becomes more so the more we go on.
This was great. I don't see any where that says when the other three parts of the retreat are going to be posted. Does anyone know?
Hi Travis,
They will be posted each Monday.
-Monty
Cool, thanks!
I have received many instructions on meditating from the hara (which I believe is the same location you were referring to). I have always struggled. This one worked. The notion of breating in to it and resting in it on the outbreath resonated. The description of the light sense was also helpful. I look forward to continuing with you this month. You mentioned that there would be instruction on meditating by outself between videos. Has that been posted. Am I missing something?
What you are reporting sounds very good. Yes, in between sessions I'd like you to work with the practices I've given in that session.
I think you are supposed to work with the technique that Reggie gives instruction for at the end of the video on your own between sessions.
Thankyou Reggie Ray,
I have been practicing your cd collection Your Breathing Body, Volume 1 so was very happy to see you doing a retreat here on Tricycle. When I did the breathing with the focus on the abdominal area you mentioned I felt,and seen the sense of a deep ocean and vastness, one question I have is why when ending the practice there is no processing for coming back from the exercise I sometimes find myself a little lost at the end of the practice and find it a bit difficult to return from the focus of the exercise; I especially have found this a challenge in the Earth breathing practices.
Namaste
Runningstream
I do know that in our culture there is often much emphasis on "processing" our experience in meditation to move out of that space and back into our more familiar way of seeing and being in the world. From the standpoint of the practicing lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, the tantric approach, the less we can "process" in this way the better. Our habitual experience of the world is unnaturally narrow and constricted; our usual experience of things limits our lives and our development. The more we can stay in the much bigger, meditative space of our own basic nature, the more we will see the world as it really is; and the more our lives will open up. And the more exciting, creative, and transformative our lives will be. I do grant you, that when we move back into our ordinary lives in this way, we often find ourselves in an unfamiliar universe and this can be unsettling. But this feeling of being in an unanticipated reality and the slight fear it inspires is not bad but good. This is what we often don't see, especially in our culture with its emphasis on being "safe" and on ridding ourselves of discomfort. It is really good, a positive sign, because it shows that we are opening to a larger, more natural, and more blessing filled way of being in our everyday lives and in the larger universe.
Thank you so much for this simple yet deep introduction to the concept of meditating with the body. I am just finishing your book "Touching Enlightenment", and have been extremely interested in the actual methods to begin the process.
I am not sure if it is my own mental creation but I sensed heat in the surrounding area of focus when sending the breath to the lower abdominal point as guided in your retreat. Am I imagining this, or is this a common experience?
Enrique
When working in this way, the experience of heat in the lower belly is something that many people experience. If it is pleasant, you can stay with it. If it becomes a little much, you can move your attention back toward your spine and that can be cooling. There are so many experiences that arise when we begin to tap into the body; they are often ultimately quite individual and very much part of our journey.
I became very warm throughout my body.
Pamela